brink of chaos torn between three groups kurds sunnis and shias. it is a country divided a stranger to peace that i'm about to cross a taxi ride to the heart of iraqi history. from a hole in the north of travel down through l b let some ammonia. tikrit volusia baghdad babylon. and. a road map of the iraqi tragedy. so obviously i'm delighted the americans have finally left iraq as much as we are rockies are very happy not to see it or hear anymore enough was enough of the americans occupied us so we hate them like they lean here in iraq they killed in creating the conditions for chaos they are responsible for the whole tragedy of them and of course we were living in peace and they came to destroy our country and

also about all of us of them but. my journey begins on the mountains of iraqi kurdistan. an army of two hundred thousand soldiers called peshmerga watch over this rather particular region of a country. that. jeff. was. my first stop is an l.b.o. the capital of iraqi kurdistan it's the only region of iraq today that is seeing peace and an economic boom the miracle of being made possible by the discovery of oil on kurdish territory. for a long time dominated by baghdad and saddam hussein kurdistan dreams of achieving autonomy. the first.

the first passenger on our trip is a member of the new kurdish parliament. but just you know it in iraq we can say that oil has always been a curse. but never wore but today in kurdistan that's changing. foreign oil companies are coming here to work with. the revenues are finally being used for reconstruction of what negative it's a huge difference for us as in saddam's times we never benefited from the oil money or would he had any of this that i don't know that yet he got that out of me when. it's quite simple we are kurds before we're iraqis and can wear them out so i think they're very rapidly as soon as we have been able to create a stable basis for building a country ninety nine percent of people will vote for independence with. no one to one or the people who want their own country

a country called kurdistan are looking at it as that they want their own passport but there's no kurdish one i suppose you could stand. a land of shepherd's good astonished discovering wealth through its oil a nightmare for baghdad which had long controlled with the resources and riches. without driver khalid we had east towards the mountains along the border with around. driving through abandoned villages i feel like i'm visiting some a trace. of a. passenger ahmed is a survivor today he's on a pilgrimage paying tribute to the dead. are screwed.

so. one hundred eighty eight during the military campaign waged by saddam against the kurds my village was completely destroyed. some of the inhabitants would be ported to southern iraq and locked up in the terrible new grass so none present. many women children and men women last week and thrown into mass graves. the kurds have always dreamed of independence saddam hussein decided to eliminate the problem once and for all. his cousin to go down in history as chemical ali was in charge of the repression. on march sixteenth one thousand nine hundred eight his helicopters dropped bombs loaded with toxic gas over kurdish villages. one hundred thousand civilians were

killed and three thousand villages were raised the kurds rebellion was crossed. here in the villages the peshmerga who didn't built up supply. anyone opposed to saddam could seek refuge here. so the regime began by attacking the villages. burning gassing and destroying the villages meant controlling kurdistan. lunches like a homage to the victims on the menu adama stuffed vegetables prepared by that wife . a sunny like saddam hussein. he didn't know or didn't want to know the terrible truth. look i'll show you the house where i was born yeah here on this hill where we're a city is like a memorial to the village as it was before the tragedy it was here that the

villagers came together every evening to talk to play backgammon and listen to the radio. i leave a comment to mourn and commemorate his loved ones. we continue towards the east and kirkuk the former capital of kurdistan today on iraqi territory. so what if that god be praised i'm not scared when the region was under american control i was afraid about it but as soon as the iraqi police and army took over things got much better if the americans didn't know the region they were afraid and trigger happy that they didn't hesitate to fire at anyone who approached them like the passenger foreigner anyone. on this road has seen a lot of drama how many times do the americans shut down iraqis here for no reason gotta go. through the windscreen the first iraqi checkpoint appears it's time to lower the camera and film on discreetly. that.

the soldiers here are regularly targeted by armed groups and are also quick to shoot out about the attacks and kidnappings are frequent in the area. and there is no checking our identity an itinerary takes too long hours. for the last who can hit the road again a road that is more than dangerous. to be honest no one took this road before the al qaeda basically all the terrorists control the region and everyone is afraid of venturing out on this road today we feel a bit safer at getting there but it. the constant road blocks me now two hundred kilometer journey takes eight hours. night has fallen when i reach her cook in the skies lit up by flask tanks the city floats

on a vast sea of oil. for centuries pilgrims came here to gather around the eternal flames . the kurds would dearly love to reclaim the city the former capital of baghdad. he is unwilling to lose such a profitable treasure. one term to a majority of kurds today is a mix of turkmen arabs kurds and christians a veritable ethnic powder keg. so i want to start out with this morning's planters around occurred but they're not workers who can kurdistan's independence he would pay with his own blood. kind of book. that has to become part of kurdistan again that it's vital

here bonded by blood to constitute them but them they can kill us and shoot at us but it won't change anything we are linked to kurdistan allows them a city i mean we cannot live outside of kurdistan it would be like dying. my brother we'll invite you to a restaurant. might i cannot let you go without inviting me i am a kurd and hospitality is a custom with us. you can continue your journey after the mail and i swear before god i want to come to the restaurant with me you are welcome when you're in the old way of course. for khaled it's time to pray. and for us to eat the. as we enter the village a few peace men appear as an escort. i would say to watch as they say to protect us . and so i pay for everyone's meal is a kind of friendly tax and what. it said

of kirkuk could be one of the world's richest cities it is certainly one of the most dangerous. discreet an ordinary heroin saima who is a kurd investor are opposed and fortune in the opening of a private school a generous act which has attracted envious attention don't let money. i'm terrified so little if they do the day after not flood was broadcast still to promote the school to physio i got a telephone call i would you. know yes there's a lot of happy hello about any hello how do you know why nothing could have if it is the. he got a man introduced himself as a member of a terrorist organization and demanded money for that and my colleagues were terrorized through. well then i close the school for

a month and then i said we have to open it again we can't just give in. we have to work still life has to go on. that. neither the terrorists nor anyone else can stop me from working as a pistol only god is the master of my destiny. mission. critic a should treat. for judges. to make amends three. three. three. old free blog cancelling video for your media projects and free media dot com.

hold it. hold it. i. will. speak. a.

little. bit longer. and a. little while. when we reach must to the second biggest city in iraq it has been locked down by the army. the previous night two bombs went off in the suit. i have to negotiate with the military chiefs for three hours before they let me enter. the.

across what appears to be a dead sitting and yet today mosul is in party mode. my name is ahmed and about i am a law student today is a festival the university day that's why we can see all the troops they're here to protect us. the situation is very difficult the country is undergoing a wave of anonymous attacks and assassination my dream is quite simple i just want to live in an iraq that is safe and it pete it's a magnificent country mustn't forget that it was once respectfully known as mesopotamia the land between two rivers i dream of peace. but peace seems impossible. to americans have gone but now kurds shias and sunnis battle for control of the city even the mosques are under military protection the internet in

killing goes on in the name of allah. a leave muscle with no regrets. this road fraught with danger can also hold certain surprises and. stops to help a friend even in iraq one can run alphabet. arius we have the world's second biggest oil reserves and we're short of petrol and gas. were reduced to filling up on the black market at exorbitant prices. common sense would suggest that petrol was available in quantity and free perhaps not free but not too expensive anyway and what john. as soon as we arrived on the outskirts of tikrit saddam hussein's former stronghold where arrested by the police i have the feeling we were expected. after

a few hours of questioning were put under house arrest in a hotel and forbidden from going out. and the situation eases the following afternoon when we're granted two hours of freedom but we're still under close surveillance. the next man who joins us in the taxi is in mourning his name's feel he's a journalist and he lost his best friends just two days ago. but god will save iraq . sorry. you had to do it they want to make iraq a wretched country than us be. but that would be assassinate the best among us the terrorist who kills a journalist like my colleague at the news channel or who kills

a religious man in economic or teacher certainly doesn't do it for religious reasons it's obvious he does it mostly for money because our religion does not tolerate all these crimes the only motive for these crimes is money and they're ordered from outside to kill our best people in. in the city center the mosque still bears the name of the man who built it was saddam hussein. idealist come to pay a final homage to his murdered friend. who also on april second twenty twelve. a holiday in a journalist for a local t.v. station was killed instantly when his car exploded. until. a relaxing evening along the banks of the tigris overseen by the palace of the local hero sadam. saddam was

always surrounded by members of his own tribe and many here miss the man who built a sunni state much to their advantage. became injured or killed the americans didn't come here to look for weapons of mass destruction nor to hunt down certain are saying they came to rob us and to kill us asian iraq it was a unified country but at the moment when they arrived the americans that triggered divisions by creating ethnic conflicts just you know this very well. they destroyed everything and then they left but they don't know but in reality they're still here they make people think they've gone but they're still present their aim is to create discord in iraq that all muslims are the self but. as we leave tikrit we come to a village the heart of saddam hussein's kingdom where he was finally caught.

on december fourteenth two thousand and three saddam was captured at dawn in his hideout in a farmyard a miserable rattle two meters underground. disheveled and distraught he surrendered to the american forces. in his possession with two kalashnikovs and seven hundred fifty thousand dollars. by. now there are those taxis a gas guzzler and we need more petrol. but it was here. we seek out the black market the power level business which fills the coffers of a few politicians civil servants and terrorist groups to. the oil money benefits

everyone apart from the iraqi people. now faltering of. the temperature hits more than forty degrees on the machines a cool down with a hose. for the men it's time to wash and pray before sitting down for a meal. that surprised by my presence but soon opened up. for the sunny custom as the whole affair was an american manipulation. movement the greek word kuwait plays a key role in the arab world and. the americans used the country to trap saddam of like them fearing i mean how did before they set the bait up and he took it and it was a prearranged ambush. it's time to leave and head for lucia khaled

doesn't like stopping for too long. kidnappings are frequent here and for the criminal gangs everyone has a price probably including me. the killing in the kidnap. things may be motivated by political or religious convictions but increasingly simply for profit. i've lost count of the checkpoints along the way but the controls this morning seem interminable. i don't know who this fee for victory sign is aimed at as we finally enter the ravaged city of fallujah. and. joe was the scene of one of the most violent american offensives.

a g.i. summerlee killed youngsters and whole families here here any time last always a collision recover. but they blew up cars and caused a lot of fatalities. is the most ravaged city in iraq of them annoying. oh yes that's the american legit ok. the heat is unbearable and the motor is overheating the local grocer helps us to cool it. he's a man driven by anger he experienced the battle of fallujah at first hand and how hot it was watch i am what they are you call that democracy now it's quite simply about killing and stealing our wealth our lands were burnt from the effects of the white phosphorous bombs and now our children are gone disfigured. that they are not what they are so beloved all the god living with us go and see the hospitals and

you'll see mothers throwing away their babies deform the by all the chemical weapons that saddam the only could do if there is justice in the world bush will have to answer for his war crimes and crimes against humanity he claimed iraq had weapons of mass destruction but where were they these weapons. let me although i do know that there was a killer using white phosphorous bomb while on what felt not even the mosque was saved from his barbarity look at the ruined minaret well i'm not that's bush's democracy the job holy of them about the other bullshit the idea. on november seventh two thousand for a deluge of iron and fire rained down on the city of two hundred mosques. to die it was a last stronghold for the al qaeda mujahideen. twelve thousand marines three hundred tanks and one hundred also helicopters were launched against for. the biggest urban

battle in iraq was under way. the american victory was total the casualty figures speak for themselves one hundred american soldiers were killed and on the iraqi side its estimate thousand victims most of them civilians. the battle left a city in ruins where death continue to take its toll. and their offensive it's thought the u.s. troops used white phosphorous bombs and depleted uranium weapons banned by all international conventions.

so i wanted a new passenger is not administrator at the general hospital. since the battle of fallujah ended has kept records of the children born with congenital malformation. for him there's no doubt the americans were responsible for this tragedy. for me the administrator's office becomes an empty chamber of horrors. now but i learnt that the war is far from over in fact it's still going on for the stigmata rivera and their evolving in two thousand and five we know to a spectacular increase in genetic malformations a new born babies how large the. file.

voters only show a tiny part of the reality just for the month of january we recorded forty three cases yacht.

so.